looks like its hit oil, don't know whats gonna happen, any idea's ???

Thanks Janus, but I see no reason why this cannot go ahead sooner. Aberdeen Drilling Management should really have a rig in mind before now after NOP got Permission for Sandhills-2. I appreciate NOP can save costs by drilling both wells back to back but sourcing a rig for land drilling is not too hard to do in the UK as a few contractors around. NOP are certainly taking it step by step and I only hope I have the patience to hang in there although initially bought in at 2.5p and then again at 4p so tidy profit but would love to see them actually drill Sandhills as I see no reason why they will not hit oil and with the directional drilling which can go along the pay zone horizontally for fast payback I firmly believe they are on a winner. BG found oil and gas there in 82 and I cant believe it has disappeared. Comments please!

Have just read on ADVFN BB that it is January 2005 before spudding in first well. Janus your friend was right again!!

Buyers back in this am, fill your boots!

Now confirmed January drilling.

Northern Petroleum Plc

('Northern' or the 'Company')

Aggressive two well drilling programme on the Isle of Wight: timetable

The Bouldnor Copse-1 planning application allows Northern Petroleum to confirm
the timetable for two wells on the Isle of Wight.

Northern believe that the structures contain a potential 135 million barrels of
recoverable oil net to the company.

The Sandhills-2 well will be drilled as the first well in the programme and has
a primary target of the Great Oolite limestone which has been proven to be oil
bearing in the Sandhills-1 well drilled by British Gas in 1982, but untested at
the time of drilling.

The Great Oolite reservoir will be cored, logged and tested to establish oil
content and the productivity of the reservoir. Following initial testing a
decision will be made to either continue with a longer term testing programme
of the Great Oolite or continue to the deeper Sherwood sandstone target or
release the rig to drill Bouldnor Copse-1 and bring it back afterwards to
deepen the well to the Sherwood sandstone.

The Bouldnor Copse-1 well will be drilled following completion of operations at
Sandhills-2 and will be targeted at both the Great Oolite as a further
appraisal of this reservoir and deepened to the Sherwood sandstone to evaluate
this reservoir target. Testing operations will commence with an evaluation of
the Sherwood sandstone given encouragement from core and log analysis followed
by testing of the Great Oolite, if analysis indicates hydrocarbon saturation,
to enable a comparison to the results obtained at Sandhills-2.

Northern has issued tenders for site construction at the Sandhills-2 site and
has issued tenders for a rig for the two well drilling programme. Long lead
time items for both wells have already been ordered to meet the earliest spud
date. Site construction is expected to commence at the Sandhills site within 3
weeks and the earliest anticipated spud date for the first well is December
2004 or January 2005, thus avoiding operations through the festive season.

For further information please contact,

Derek Musgrove, Managing Director

Northern Petroleum Plc

Tel. 020 7743 6080

Ben Simons

Hansard Communications

Tel. 020 7245 1100

http://www.uk-wire.com/cgi-bin/articles/20041029070000pd604.html

Oil exploration hits Isle of Wight
Published: 13:00 Fri 29 Oct 2004
By Douglas Bence, Companies Correspondent
Email to a friend | Printable Version

The Isle of Wight is best known for its Needles rock formations, flower power festival and 1950s ambience but if Northern Petroleum has its way, by January it will be known as the UK's own little Texas-on-Sea.


According to the company there are two sites which could have up to 135 million barrels of recoverable oil, Sandhills-2 and Bouldnor Copse-1.

Both are close to the coast on the north west of the island, one near Newport and the other on a farm east of Yarmouth.

Following the granting of planning permission by the Isle of Wight council, negotiations are going on for a rig. Construction work can start in three weeks.

Sandhills-1 was originally drilled by British Gas 22 years ago, but although oil was found the site was abandoned and the samples untested.

Northern Petroleum, so called because of its early interests in the most northerly parts of Russia, will drill to a depth of 3,700 feet to hit the reservoir which sits below Oolite limestone.

Geologically Oolite limestone dates from the Jurassic age. The calcium carbonate is derived from decomposed shells.

A number of recoverable oil reserves have been found in this part of Britain - there are seven producing oilfields in Hampshire and Sussex, Northern Petroleum having an interest in one.

The reservoir will be cored, logged and tested to establish the content and potential productivity of the reservoir, Northern Petroleum managing director Derek Musgrove told Between four and 10 people will be on site for the work, which is expected to take a month. The rig will then moved to Bouldnor Copse-1.

AIM-quoted Northern was incorporated 10 years ago and invests in and manages oil and gas explorations in Spain, Italy and the UK. The shares rose 0.88p to 9.62p this morning, an increase of 10%.

http://www.citywire.co.uk/instrument/default.asp?vid=69481&kid=19&uid=&cid=&ctid=1&sid=&fid=&iid=&type=&dateEnd=29/10/2004%2023:59:59&rurl=/instrument/default.asp&PageNumber=1

Buy Hereward, Northern Petroleum and Black Rock Oil Says Stewart Dalby of Oilbarrel.com [links to http://www.oilbarrel.com]
It is probably time to have another look at three AIM listed minnows; Northern Petroleum, Hereward Ventures and Black Rock &Oil and Gas. The three are soon to start drilling for oil on the Isle of Wight, southern England.

After what seemed an eternity waiting for land purchase and planning permission, the group has received planning permission for not one but two wells. Bouldner Copse-1 will follow on the heels of Sandhills-2 appraisal well.

Northern is the prime mover in these wells it has majority stakes in both and is the operator. Hereward is a mining group, which has ambitions to move into oil. It has a 10 per cent stake in Bouldner Copse-1 well and a 7.5 per cent stake in Sandhills-2. Black Rock, the Australian junior which is listed in London on AIM, has a 5 per cent free carried interest in Sandhills-2.
[Image ignored] [links to https://www.t1ps.com/]

The group's first interest is the Sandhills-2 well which is near Cowes on the island. The wells will target the Greater Oolite formation. Oil was discovered here in 1982 by the BG operated Sandhills-1 well. BG did not test the well, however, because at that time the Oolite was not considered to be a viable reservoir in the area. Northern has developed a new interpretation of the Oolite, which has been verified by consultants.

Bouldner Copse-1 will also target the deeper Sherwood Sandstone formation, which hosts the prolific oil producing reservoir at BP's Wytch Farm complex on the mainland. The Great Oolite formation is a difficult limestone reservoir with often poor recovery rates. But even with a 10 to 20 per cent recovery rate there could be 15 million barrels recoverable. The Sherwood Sandstone has better recovery rates, and there could be 30 million barrels recoverable.

On present plans, Sandhills will only drill down to the Great Oolite although Northern is keen to persuade its partners to go deeper to the Sherwood Sandstone. Graham Heard exploration manager says, "This is a decision we will take at the time."

Northern's shares at 9 have enjoined a good rise in recent months. Hereward and Black Rock, however, have languished at 4p and 2p respectively. The point here is the relativity case. Only Northern has any production and that is small. Even a modest discovery would be company making for each of the three groups. One hundred million barrels would be nice, but the 15 million from the Great Oolite would still be company transforming.
Buy before drilling begins.
Stewart Dalby is the editor of oilbarrel.com [links to http://www.oilbarrel.com] - the definitive and free source of information on small oil companies. For more details click here [links to http://www.oilbarrel.com].

So - NOP's Italian assets are finally on OFEX, all bar formalities.

...Good news - primarily medium-term - for newsflow the next year or two, though some of that might start relatively soon ("The activity for the
immediate future will be to fast-track seven Po Valley gas prospects to the
point of drilling.").

This partial-float of Italian assets into OFEX looks fine to me, though perhaps a little more complicated than many folks were expecting. It also does not rule out further effective farm-ins, which would support confidence and despite reduced upside for NOP, would reduce expenditure as well - the usual angle.

Short-term, it is good to get the OFEX/Italian float out of the way - there was some worry it would go ahead what with OFEX itself being in trouble recently. I think this will also allow some value to be put on NOP's Italian exposure, that not being in the share price yet, IMO.
Now, what do TomW and other tipsters think, I wonder?

I've got a bucketload - enough for now.
Trading these is more a question of watching for good buy/sell points than frequent trading, IMO.

From UK analyst stockmarket report

Northern Petroleum announced the terms of the Ofex spin-off of its Italian assets. Northern is putting 150,000 pounds into the new Italian company (ATI) and other investors are putting in 350,000 pounds at 5p. The new company will own 50% of Northern's extensive Italian acreage - Northern will own the rest. But it is ATI that will fund seismic and exploration. Northern will end up owning 38% of ATI which will be valued at 4.5 million pounds if it stays at 5p (which we doubt it will. So this deal crystallises the value of Northern's assets at 6.5 million pounds. the shares added 0.125 to 9.5p.

Breaking 10p on volume picking up... 14p next main target

Evolution Beeson Gregory says add Northgate (NTG.L) and Punch Taverns (PUB.L).
The broker says buy Northern Petroleum (NOP.L) and sell Radstone (RST.L) and Whitehead Mann (WHT.L).

kyrit - Is that a new note from EVO? Date? Any target price? TIA

mike... read about it on sharecrazy.com; a new note at 11.10am- target price not known.

WOW, whats going on here then? Everyone buying, news on the way?

Embargoed: 0700 hrs, 7 December 2004

Northern Petroleum Plc

('Northern' or the 'Company')

Drilling Programme Update

Northern Petroleum Plc is pleased to announce that site preparation began
yesterday at the Company's Sandhills-2 well on the Isle of Wight.

The Sandhills-2 well location is expected to be drill-ready by January 2005.
The well is the first of the Company's two well drilling programme on the Isle
of Wight. The Company intends to drill its Bouldnor Copse-1 prospect after the
turning over of Sandhills-2 to a test programme. Northern believes that there
is a combined potential of up to 135 million barrels of recoverable oil net to
Northern from the structures targeted by the two wells.

Derek Musgrove, Managing Director, commented,

'After many months of meticulous planning and preparation, during which we have
made great efforts to cover all recognised environmental, ecological and other
concerns, it is very pleasing indeed to start the physical preparation of this
site. It is the first operation on the ground in a two well drilling programme,
the success of which would have the potential to transform the value of the
Company.'

For further information please contact,

Derek Musgrove, Managing Director

Northern Petroleum Plc

Tel. 020 7743 6080

Ben Simons

Hansard Communications

Tel. 020 7245 1100

Further information on Northern Petroleum Plc is available via our website,

www.northpet.com

That will account for the rise yesterday then.

PRICE TARGET IN THE TIMES TODAY FROM EVOLUTION IS 21 PENCE.

This is being held back again today. Is that buy figure right over 700k! against so few sells. I heard evo put a fair price of 31p pre drilling. Come on mm's let this go.

I understand Mike Walters says NOP is his favourite stock.
Does anyone know what his latest words are on the chances of spudding before Xmas?
THANKS

You have more chance of winning the lottery than see NOP start drilling before Chrismas. Not MWs words mine. They are still in the process of obtaining a drill. More like the end January begining of Feb depending on the weather methinks.

From the other place, original source Oilbarrel.com

09.12.2004
New OFEX Company ATI Oil Eyes Neglected Italian Oil And Gas Riches
ATI Oil, which was spun out of AIM-quoted Northern Petroleum and offers investors exposure to Italys oil and gas sector, has joined Londons OFEX market buoyed by the proceeds of a private placing. The 500,000 fundraising, completed prior to the float, will be used to fund the start-ups costs over the next 18 months.

Northern decided to spin off its Italian assets after it received approaches from a number of European investors keen to secure a foothold in Italy, which is Europes third largest producer of oil and gas. Northern, an onshore UK player now gearing up for a two-well drilling programme on the Isle of Wight, saw the opportunity to create a separate company specifically holding its Italian interests. Northern will hold 38.72 per cent of ATIs enlarged ordinary share capital and the new companys board includes chairman Derek Musgrove, managing director of Northern, finance director Christopher Foss, currently financial controller and company secretary of Northern, plus technical director Barry Lonsdale, who has worked as an exploration geologist for 34 years and since 1987 has been a principal partner in Italmin Petroli S.r.L in Italy.

Northern has spent many years battling slow-moving Italian bureaucracy to secure its acreage position in Italy, which comprises some 8,450 sq km, equivalent to the size of 40 North Sea blocks. As a result of Northerns tenacity, ATI now holds a 50 per cent interest in 16 licences and applications both onshore and offshore Italy. The offshore areas could hold a billion barrel resource base yet have not been explored since the 1980s. And the onshore Po Valley acreage promises quick returns on investment: the company has identified seven prospects, each in the order of 60 to 100 billion cubic feet of gas, in a highly industrialised area with an existing network of pipelines.

The activity for the immediate future will be to fast-track seven Po Valley gas prospects to the point of drilling and to undertake sufficient seismic reprocessing to fully establish the prospectivity of the three offshore licences with the highest upside potential, Musgrove told oilbarrel.com last month.

Musgrove believes these opportunities to be greatly superior to most of those now being chased in the highly competitive North Sea environment.

In the meantime, Northern Petroleum has started site preparation on the Isle of Wight off the southern coast of England ahead of drilling the Sandhills-2 and Bouldnor Copse-1 wells. Both wells are targeting the Great Oolite formation, in which oil was discovered in 1982 by the BG-operated Sandhills-1 well. BG didnt test the well, however, because at that time the Oolite was not considered to be a viable reservoir in the area. Northern has developed a new interpretation of the Oolite, which has been verified by consultants, and reckons the Great Oolite in Bouldnor Copse will be a western extension of the structure at Sandhills.

Bouldnor Copse-1 will also target the deeper Sherwood Sandstone formation, which hosts the prolific oil producing reservoir at BPs Wytch Farm complex on the mainland. In the Bouldnor Copse-1 well, the Great Oolite formation could hold up to 15 million barrels of oil and the Sherwood Sandstone between 30 and 120 million barrels.